"The world always makes the assumption that the exposure of an error is identical with the discovery of truth -- that the error and truth are simply opposite. They are nothing of the sort. What the world turns to, when it is cured on one error, is usually simply another error, and maybe one worse than the first one." ~ H.L. Mencken

Time to Sunset 'Daylight Saving Time'

If you live in either Arizona or Hawaii , you can already ignore this. Likewise, if you live anywhere within the periphery of the Amerikan Empire, like the "commonwealths" of Puerto Rico (Estado Libre Asociado, para ustedes quien habla espanol) or the Northern Marianas, or the "incorporated territories" of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, or American Samoa, you don't need to be reading this -- unless you travel to or communicate in real time with anyone living in any of the remaining 48 States of the Union. In that case, you might want to see those state legislatures or Congress do something beneficial for a change: End "Daylight Saving Time."

Even to someone as jaded as me when it comes to the minute nooks and crannies of day-to-day life into which government unabashedly enmeshes itself, I yet find it hard to believe that it has for long years actually dictated to most of us what time it is during certain parts of the year. Can you think of anything more useless, more crass, and more utterly stupid? I ask: What is wrong with accepting that it gets dark early in winter and it doesn't do so during the summer -- regardless of what the clock says?

Beginning here in 2007, due to a prior congressional mandate, "Daylight Saving Time" will end roughly a month earlier (the second Sunday in March), and begin later (the first Sunday in November). While this keeps this "spring forward, fall back" foolishness out of our hair for eight months at a stretch, it's not good enough. It needs to end, period.

Open letter time to any bureaucrats who might be listening (you might even e-mail this mini-rant along to the ones who probably aren't listening where you live): This is not an issue which will deprive you of the ability to continue stealing our property. It's not going to allow us to live the way we want to live without likely running into one of the armed thugs who work for you sooner or later. It's not going to jeopardize your precious wars on terror, drugs, or for overseas empire. It's not going to force you to uphold your constitutional oaths. It's not a "Left" or a "Right" issue. It's probably not going to affect things much for you come election time. It's nothing more, in truth (something you don't like, I realize), than a little bit of plain, harmless, common sense. And like most everything you already do, it's something which has no business even being under your control.

Can you do even one thing correctly? Can you find it within yourselves to relinquish even one scintilla of arrogated authority? To act with one grain of pure unadulterated logic? Can you? If so, for just one time -- just once -- prove it. Give us our rightful control over at least the clocks in our homes for crying out loud. End "Daylight Saving Time."

Alex R. Knight IIIis the author of numerous horror, science-fiction, and fantasy tales. He has also written and published poetry, non-fiction articles, reviews, and essays for a variety of venues. He currently lives and writes in rural southern Vermont where he holds a B.A. in Literature & Writing from Union Institute & University. Alex's Amazon page can be found here, and his work may also be found at both Smashwords and Barnes & Noble. His Facebook page can be found here. Receive Alex's occasional Tweets here.